Book holder

ABSTRACT

A book holder consists of a base having a pair of upstanding plates spaced apart a sufficient distance to receive the book cover; the base has a fence in front of the plates spaced therefrom a sufficient distance to accommodate the pages of the book. The fence adjacent the spine of the book tapers toward the base to facilitate turning a page.

United States Patent Dyke Sept. 3, 1974 BOOK HOLDER 1,959,843 /1934spragl ie 248 451 x 2,151,269 3/1939 Grant 248/441 [76] Invent Dyke, 249Newton 2,550,279 4/1951 Mamer 248 463 x wlllwdalei Omar"), Canada2,802,295 8/1957 Kraus... 248/453 3,043,047 7/1962 Fleur 248 454 [22]1972 3,408,032 /1968 Francis 248 454 x [21] Appl. No.: 316,125 3,460,7958 1969 Dahlin 248 453 X Foreign Application Priority Data g Ejaminer f gi Dec. 29, 1971 Great Britain 60348/71 Home em [52] US. Cl. 248/441,281/ [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl A47b 97/08 [58] Field 61 Search 248/463,465, 453, 451, 39 anbase iyf g? of "i" S an 1ng pa 65 space 8P3. a SUmen 18 ance 0 receive the book cover, the base has a fence 1n front ofthe plates spaced therefrom a sufiicient distance to [56] Referencescued accommodate the pages of the book. The fence adja- UNITED STATESPATENTS cent the spine of the book tapers toward the base to 1,038,2809/1912 Burnett 248/45 facilitate turning a page, 1,263,761 4 1918 Haslam248/453 1,704,561 3/1929 Egan 248/453 4 Claims, 10 Drawing FiguresPATENTED 31974 SHEET 0F 3 PATENTED 3E? 74 .MWM

lll

BOOK HOLDER FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to a. bookholder for supporting a book particularly in an open and readableposition.

PRIOR ART A number of proposals have been made. for book holders butthey mostly involve the use of elastic mate: rial. Thus U.S. Patent2661568 shows in the preferred form a book holder made of spring-likematerial either of metal or of stiff plastic; also the device shownis-in;- tended to serve as a book end and when used as a book holder inthe open position, a pair of thesedevices are necessary to accomplishthis purpose while the assembly does not hold the pages open.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the invention to provide. aholder which will hold a book by its covers in a clamped,.fiat, openposition with the pages so. held: open at any desired place in such away that the reader can easily and:

holder which may be propped up on a surface by means of a common itemsuch as a pencil, ruler, etc. and may also be employed to hold or carrya closed. book securely and without protrusion materially beyond theconfines of the book which it is holding whereforthe book holder becomesvery readily transportable for use in any location at which it may bedesired. to use the same.

The book holder of the invention consists of a base; connected theretoare first and second spaced apart upstanding members. The distancebetween the members is sufficient to accommodate the cover of a book andtheir height is sufficient to provide the requisite support to thepages. Forward of the second member and secured to the base is anupstanding fence which is high enough to hold the pages in positionbehind: it and yet not interfere with the reading matter. The base maybe provided with a thumb cavity which intersects the fence and. the edgeof the latter is sloped. toward the thumb cavity to facilitate turningthe pages.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will now be described inrelation to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a book holderconstructed according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a back view of the book holder shown in FIG. 1, the holderbeing supported in a tilted position.

FIG. 3 is another embodiment of a book holder constructed according tothe invention.

FIG. 4 is a cross-section taken on the line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a book positioned in the holder.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a book in a holder with the pages inposition for reading.

. 2. FIG. 7 is a cross section taken on the lines 7-7 of FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is a view of a holder in the upsidedown position. FIGS. 9 and 10show the method, of locating a book in a holder in the upsidedownposition.

With particular reference to FIG. 1, the book holder comprises a base orplatform 10, a back collectively designated 12, and a fence collectivelydesignated 14. A bookis designed to rest upon the. platform 10 whollybehind, the fence 14 as illustrated in FIG. 6. The fence l4 may comprisetwo parts 16 and 18, the perimeters of which are arcuate in form atleast particularly where they descend at their inner edges towards thebase.. 10. The parts 16 and 18 may have the same or differentperimetrical. configuration as illustrated in FIG. 1, but. it will beunderstood that they are such as to facilitate turning of the pagesbecause the arcuate or rounded portion promotes gliding .over of thebottom edge of the page when it is turned by hand in the usual way.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 1 between the inneredges of the. parts16 and l8-and formed. in the plaforrn 10 is an arcuate thumb cavity 20.whereby the book may be held with the thumb against the gutter of thesaid book. when open as is usual.

The back consists of a central portion 22, laterally disposed portions24and26 which with the central portion define respectively slots 28 and.30. shown more particularly in FIG. 1. In connection with these,portions 22,24 and 26 and the slots 28 and 30, it is to, be understoodthat the spine of an open book rests against the front surface. of theportion 22. while the front and back covers of the book extend.respectively through the slots 28 and 30. The portions 24 and 26, occupya plane parallel with that occupied by portion 22 though slightlyadvanced towards the fence 14. As a result the front cover of the bookafter passing through the slot 28 extends behind the portion 24.Similarly the back cover of the book after passing through the slot 30extends behind the portion 26.

From the foregoing it becomes apparent that the device fits a bookwithin the compass of the width of the platform 10 very snugly, so as,figuratively speaking, to become part of the book but yet to hold itrigidly open as if it were a solid clamped object. The book holder maybe readily propped with a book in it at an upwardly and rearwardlyinclining angle if a pencil 29 is pushed through one of the apertures 32provided in the portion 22, such pencil 29 then functioning in themanner of the prop of an easel. When it is desired to carry the holderwith a book in it, obviously the book, is simply placed on the platform10 either with the spine up or the opened edge up and it is thus heldclosed for transportion in the hand. I

The lower portion of each slot 28 and 30 is set at an angle for a numberof reasons. Two panels or wings 24 and 26 are positioned slightly inadvance of the plane of the panel 22 as already stated so that the bookcovers are heldand captured between the panel 22 and the panels 24 and26 in a single plane (i.e. arein co-parallel relationship). The wings 24and 26 also act as stops to limit sideways movement of the book at thespine. Thus when a book is held upsidedown in the holder as is possiblewhen a reader is in a reclining position, gravity drops the bookslightly forward away from panel or back 22 into the cavitated areadefined by 20. This dropping of the book causes the pages to be pressedagainst the inside face of the portions 14 and 16 assisting in keepingthe book open in this position. The book is prevented from sliding outof the cavitated area by the jamming effect developed by the coversbetween the back or centre panel 22 and the wings or lateral panels 24and 26 because of the aforesaid angular slots 28 and 30.

The perimetrical configuration of the fence portions 16 and 18 may bechanged at will, depending on the type of paper in the pages, by meansof a circular member 34 one of which is shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 asattached to the portions 16 of the fence 14. The circular member 34 ismounted in eccentric relationship to the edge of the portion 16, bymeans of an arm 36, which may be a press fit as illustrated in FIG. 4.Rotation of the circular member will effectually vary the contour of thefence 14 in the region where a page in the process of being turned overexerts the greatest pressure on the fence 14.

FIG. 3 shows a modification of the invention in which the back 22extends the whole width of the fence l4 and the slots 28 and 30 areeliminated; a book is located in this modified holder as illustrated inFIGS. 5, 6 and 7.

FIGS. 8, 9 and show a further modification of the invention in which thebook holder is used in an inverted position and a single panel 24 isutilised to cooperate with the fence 14 and the back 22.

Various modifications may be constructed or performed within the scopeof the inventive concept disclosed. Therefore what has been set forth isintended to illustrate such concept and is not for the purpose oflimiting protection to any herein particularly described embodimentthereof.

What is claimed is:

l. A book holder comprising a base wide enough to hold a book, first andsecond spaced apart upstanding fences to said base lying substantiallyin the same vertical plane and high enough to contain the pages of saidbook, each fence having an inwardly disposed contoured edge whichdescends toward said base adjacent to the spine of said held book tofacilitate turning over of a page, said base having a recess betweensaid fences, said base having first and second spaced apart upstandingwalls lying substantially in the same vertical plane and removed fromsaid fence, a third upstanding wall to said base behind said first andsecond walls with respect to said fence, said third wall being spacedfrom said first and second walls a distance sufficient to receive thecover of said book, said first and second walls having an inner edgewhich diverge from each other in the direction of said base.

2. A book holder according to claim 1, which is formed of a single pieceof material and said first and second walls flank said third wall toform a slot therewith, said slots corresponding substantially to theline of the said diverging inner edges of said first and second walls.

3. A book holder according to claim 2, in which said third wall hasatleast one aperture to frictionally receive from the rear a prop for saidbook holder.

4. A book holder according to claim 1 wherein one of said fences has arotatable circular member eccentrically carried adjacent said contourededge whereby the area of said circular member projecting from said edgemay be changed on rotating said circular member.

1. A book holder comprising a base wide enough to hold a book, first andsecond spaced apart upstanding fences to said base lying substantiallyin the same vertical plane and high enough to contain the pages of saidbook, each fence having an inwardly disposed contoured edge whichdescends toward said base adjacent to the spine of said held book tofacilitate turning over of a page, said base having a recess betweensaid fences, said base having first and second spaced apart upstandingwalls lying substantially in the same vertical plane and removed fromsaid fence, a third upstanding wall to said base behind said first andsecond walls with respect to said fence, said third wall being spacedfrom said first and second walls a distance sufficient to receive thecover of said book, said first and second walls having an inner edgewhich diverge from each other in the direction of said base.
 2. A bookholder according to claim 1, which is formed of a single piece ofmaterial and said first and second walls flank said third wall to form aslot therewith, said slots corresponding substantially to the line ofthe said diverging inner edges of said first and second walls.
 3. A bookholder according to claim 2, in which said third wall has at least oneaperture to frictionally receive from the rear a prop for said bookholder.
 4. A book holder according to claim 1 wherein one of said fenceshas a rotatable circular member eccentrically carried adjacent saidcontoured edge whereby the area of said circular member projecting fromsaid edge may be changed on rotating said circular member.